UNC Baseball: Midweek recap and weekend of 3/31

After a key series win against Duke, the North Carolina Tar Heels fell apart in their midweek matchup versus Coastal Carolina.

Carolina must reset as they travel to South Bend to take on Notre Dame this weekend.

Below is the schedule for this weekend:

With the 2-1 series win over Duke, Carolina inched up in each national poll.

Below are the current rankings for UNC:

D1Baseball.com: 13

Baseball America: 15

NCBWA: 14

Collegiate Baseball: 18

USA Today Coaches Poll: 14

Carolina hosted no. 19 Coastal Carolina on Tuesday night.

After two scoreless innings, the Chanticleers started the scoring in the third.

UNC responded with three runs in the bottom half of the third. Interestingly, the Tar Heels did not register a hit. Carolina tallied three runs through errors, hit batters, and a wild pitch.

Coastal tied the game in the top of the fourth with a two-RBI single.

Carolina regained the lead in the fifth on a Tomas Frick RBI single. Casey Cook added another RBI single later in the inning to push the Tar Heel lead to 5-3.

The Chanticleers homered in the sixth to get back within one.

In the seventh, Johnny Castagnozzi drove in two with a double to right center.

The wheels came off in the eighth. After a one-out home run and a walk, Kevin Eaise was replaced on the mound.

Four more UNC pitchers appeared in the inning, allowing seven more runs.

To add insult to injury, head coach Scott Forbes was ejected for arguing the home plate umpire’s call.

Carolina did not score for the rest of the game and fell 12-7 after holding a 7-4 lead after seven innings.

After dropping its series 1-2 to Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, Notre Dame (13-9, 4-5) has won four of five, including a huge 2-1 weekend series win over then-second-ranked Louisville.

The Irish have struggled at the plate. Their team batting average is last in the ACC and is .049 lower than the second-to-last team.

Notre Dame ranks last in the conference in runs, hits, home runs, RBIs, total bases, slugging percentage, and on-base percentage.

Graduate student Carter Putz leads the Fighting Irish in batting average (.291), RBIs (16), and slugging percentage (.481).

On the mound, graduate student Aidan Tyrell is Notre Dame’s ace. In seven appearances and 24.2 innings pitched this season, he leads in the ACC in ERA (1.09). He ranks second in the conference in opposing batting average (.153) and hits allowed (13).

Jack Findlay is another lefty for Notre Dame. He is tied for fourth in the ACC with 44 strikeouts this season. He is also tied for eighth in the league with an opposing batting average of .188.

Below are the individual leaders for UNC:

Batting (minimum 2 PA/G and 75% of games played):

• Batting average: .361 - Jackson Van De Brake
• Slugging percentage: .775 - Mac Horvath (6th in ACC)
• Home runs: 13 - Mac Horvath (2nd in ACC)
• RBI: 31 - Tomas Frick and Mac Horvath (T-4th in ACC)
• Hits: 35 - Tomas Frick (10th in ACC)
• Runs: 32 - Mac Horvath (T-5th in ACC)
• On-base percentage: .486 - Jackson Van De Brake
• Stolen bases: 14 - Vance Honeycutt (T-1st in ACC)

Pitching (minimum 1 IP/G):

• ERA: 2.59 - Connor Bovair
• Strikeouts: 35 - Kevin Eaise
• Innings pitched: 31.1 - Connor Bovair (9th in ACC)
• Wins: 3 - Jake Knapp
• Saves: 1 - Kevin Eaise
• Opposing Batting Average: .185 - Kevin Eaise (T-4th in ACC)